Megaman Battle Network: NetCity Adventures
by Brain Specialist
Summary: Megaman.EXE and co.'s adventures in the new NetCity. When the newly developed Elixir Cannon malfunctions and sends NetCity into turmoil, it is up to Megaman and his friends to save the day! Megaman and co. are all owned by capcom. I own everything else.
1. Welcome to NetCity!

Elixir looked up. Someone was motioning for him. He should probably answer, he thought, but he couldn't be bothered. All he wanted now was to rest for a bit…  
  
Harold motioned again. Elixir looked blank, then fell asleep at his desk again. Damn, Harold thought. Oh well. Better start the unveiling myself.  
  
'Lan!' Maylu shouted. Lan looked round. Maylu was waving at him, standing with Tory, Dex, Yai, Sean, and Chaud. Lan ran over.  
  
'Hey, Maylu, guys! I didn't know you where here for the NetCity trials!' Lan said.  
  
'Well, we are, we're here, and we're ready!' Yai told him. The door behind her opened, and a man stepped out.  
  
'Welcome to NetCity! Come in, come in!' He said. He led them inside. Inside was a huge server, connected to several rooms. A few offices, a cafeteria, and a lounge. He opened the lounge door. 'Just wait in here, and someone will come in to help you. Feel free to jack yourselves in.' He said. The group walked in, and he shut the door behind them.  
  
'Wow.' Maylu said. 'This is so cool!'  
  
'I know!' Tory was already sitting on a recliner sofa, and relaxing. Lan rubbed his hands together.  
  
'Well then, shall we jack-in?' He asked. Without waiting for a reply, he attached his PET to a terminal on the table. 'Megaman, jack-in! Activate!' The rest followed suit.  
  
'Roll, jack-in! Activate!'  
  
'Iceman, jack-in! Activate!'  
  
'Gutsman, jack-in! Activate!'  
  
'Gylde, jack-in! Activate!'  
  
'Axl, jack-in! Activate!' The group looked at Chaud. After a few seconds, he sighed and raised his hands in defeat.  
  
'Fine. Protoman, jack-in! Activate!'  
  
Megaman looked around. He was in a lounge, just like the one in the real world.  
  
'Ah, now this is luxury!' He said, jumping into an armchair. Roll and Axl sat next to him. Iceman lay down on the sofa, and Gutsman sat on another one. Glyde and Protoman stood at the window, looking out. Suddenly, a light flashed blue over the door. Then it flashed red, then green. Finally, with a hiss, the door opened. A navi clad in scientist clothing walked into the middle of the room and sat down, facing the others. Iceman blinked open one eye.  
  
'Who in net are you?' The midget Eskimo asked the navi.  
  
'My name is Reginald. Please, call me Reg. I am the navi for the vice-president of NetCity. I am here to answer any questions you may have.' Megaman leant towards Reg, clasping his hands.  
  
'Yeah, where are we?' The blue dude asked.  
  
'Ah, I was hoping you'd ask that. You are in the NetCity guest arrival lounge. You are not actually inside NetCity, but rather in the gatehouse, as you might call it.' Reg answered. Axl raised an eyebrow.  
  
'And we'd call it that, because…?' He asked.  
  
'To stop viruses entering NetCity, we have a gigantic firewall posted around the edge of it. It resembles a huge wall. There is logical way in, and that is through the gate. You are in the building surrounding the gate, which houses a few labs and maintenance rooms, for things we cannot do outside the net.' Reg replied. He looked over at Glyde and Protoman, who were still staring out of the window. He laughed. 'Ah yes. You've noticed our virtual window? It's really just a wall T.V.' He chuckled again. Suddenly the window turned into a video clip of a baseball match. Feeling a bit foolish, Glyde and Protoman sat down.  
  
'So, are you going to show us around then?' Axl asked.  
  
'Yes, Miss Yai has been waiting a long time to see NetCity.' Glyde added. Reg chuckled again.  
  
'Yes, you have waited a long time to see NetCity, haven't you? Well, I can't stop that. Come on, follow me.' Reg stepped into the doorway he had come through. The rest of the navis followed him. When they all stepped into the doorway, the door slid shut. 


	2. You may feel disoriented

In the real world, Dex looked up. There was a hologram right above the table.  
  
'Whoa! Look at that!' He shouted in astonishment. Everyone looked up. Right there in front of them were all their navis. They were in a small room, and a navi in a scientist's coat was rubbing his hands together. Megaman looked round.  
  
'Uh, what's happening?' Megaman asked.  
  
'This is the lag containment room. When you step in here, your connection speed is updated and synchronized with everyone else in NetCity. This means that there is no lag.' Reg said. Suddenly, a large green light shone above them. It morphed to red, then to blue, then to white, then to pure light. 'Please remain calm. You may feel disoriented.'  
  
'What? What do you mean-' Protoman was cut off in mid-sentence when the light pulsated and, after a few seconds, filled the entire room. After about a minute, the light died down. The navis tried to get up. Reg was the first.  
  
'I will never get used to that.' He commented.  
  
'I feel…dizzy…' Roll said. She was a slight shade of green.  
  
'Roll? Are you Okay?' Maylu asked. Then Roll threw up. Megaman patted her on the back.  
  
'There, there. It's okay. It's stopped now.' He gave her a hug. Roll was crying.  
  
'I never, EVER want to do that again!' She cried.  
  
'Come on,' Megaman told her quietly. 'you can sit down out here.' He led her out of the room, and onto a sofa. Roll lay down, and put her head on Megaman's lap.  
  
'Thanks, mega.' She told him quietly. Meanwhile, Axl was wondering around, walking into walls.  
  
'Ow. Ow. Ow. Who put this here? Ow. Ow.' Axl said, as he walked into something. As he regained balance, he stood up straight. He looked at Reg, and shouted, 'What in net's name was that?!?!'  
  
'I told you, synchronization. Your data connection is synchronized with the rest of NetCity.' He told him. Protoman looked around at the rest of the group. Glyde trying to get Iceman, who was constantly wobbling, to a chair. Axl had finally found his way to a wall without bumping into it, and was getting his breath back. Roll was sitting up, and Megaman had his arms around her and was making soothing noises. Reg began to speak again. 'When you're ready, we'll make our way into NetCity.' He told the group.  
  
A few minutes later, they were ready. Roll was still shaking slightly, but Megaman was holding her hand, assuring her it was okay. Axl had regained his balance, but lost most of his lunch. Glyde and the rest were getting up and walking towards the doorway. Megaman, Roll, and Axl followed suit. They stepped into a lift.  
  
'This,' Reg told them, 'Is the entrance to the gatehouse. We're going on the one into NetCity, but only because this one is the only elevator that does.' When they landed, they were in a small building. 'Well, I need to get back to work, so you guys go explore and tell me what you think. Bye!' With that, Reg stepped into the lift and was gone. Back in the real world, Maylu was still a bit worried about Roll.  
  
'You sure she'll be okay?' She asked Lan.  
  
'Hey, don't fret. Roll'll hang in there.' Lan told her.  
  
'Yeah, Roll's a tough little navi.' Yai said. 'She'll be okay.'  
  
'Roll, this is Maylu. If you don't feel well enough to continue, you can log out, and I'll understand.' Maylu told Roll.  
  
'Thanks, Maylu. But I think I'll be fine.' She squeezed Megaman's hand. 'I'll be just fine.' The navis stepped out of the building, and into the street.  
  
'Well,' Protoman asked, 'where does everyone want to go?'  
  
'Well, I'd like to go to the art show.' Glyde said, looking at a map.  
  
'I'd like to go and get a bite to eat.' Megaman said, rubbing his stomach.  
  
'Yeah, me too.' Roll agreed.  
  
'I'd like to visit the NetBattle arena.' Axl said.  
  
'Yeah, I'd like to try out this new chip.' Iceman agreed. Everyone looked at Gutsman and Protoman.  
  
'Well, I'm going to see if there are any chip shops nearby. There must be something good here.' Protoman said. Everyone then looked at Gutsman. He blinked.  
  
'Gutsman want something to NetBattle guts.' The colossal navi answered.  
  
'Well, Megaman said, 'That's settled. We'll meet at this café here' He pointed to a place on the map, 'after we're all finished.' With that, they went their separate ways. 


	3. Anyone seen Glyde?

Glyde looked at the paintings. It wasn't in his nature to criticise great works of art, but there was something not quite right with these. He looked closer. Yes, he could just make out a shimmer on the painting. A glitch, he thought. Then he went back to the painting. Little did he know, inside the network, something was drawing power from the gallery…  
  
Megaman ate a crisp. Life, he reasoned, was good. His girlfriend, the lovely Roll, was lying asleep against his shoulder. He had his arm around her. She wriggled softly. Megaman leant over and kissed her on her forehead. She smiled. Yeah, he thought, life was-  
  
'Mega! Hey!' Axl shouted. 'There you are, we've been looking all over for you!' Megaman looked up. Oh well, he thought, all good things must come to an end. He shook Roll awake softly.  
  
'Mmm?' She mumbled.  
  
'Wake up, they're here.' Megaman said softly. Roll yawned, and sat up.  
  
'Okay, I'm up.' She said. Ahead, Axl, Iceman, Protoman, and Gutsman were walking towards them.  
  
'So, how'd you guys fare?' Megaman asked.  
  
'Well, Icy's new chip was an Ultra Blizzard mk. 7, and it got us frozen solider than a cup of water in the Artic.' Axl replied.  
  
'It wasn't my fault! You should've left me alone! I told you it was dangerous to interfere with one of these!' Iceman retorted.  
  
'Brr…still cold…guts…' Gutsman said, shivering.  
  
'What about you, Protoman?' asked Megaman.  
  
'Well, luckily Master Chaud had a Firesword on him, so I was able to thaw them out.' Protoman said.  
  
'So that explains you poking me. That did hurt, you know.' Axl said, rubbing his arm.  
  
'Punishment for being stupid enough to be in the blast radius of the chip.' Protoman replied.  
  
'Yeah so-' Megaman started. He looked around. Someone was missing, but he couldn't guess who. He counted the heads, frowned, and said, 'Anyone seen Glyde?' At that moment, there was a gigantic flash above them. They looked up.  
  
'What the hell is that?!?!?' Megaman screamed, jumping to his feet. At that moment, a laser shot down from where the flash had been, and hit an area a few streets away. There was an explosion, a piercing light, then nothing. 


	4. What just happened?

'Hello?' Lan looked into the hologram. All he could see was an intense light. He looked at his PET. Megaman was still alive, but he didn't know where he was…  
  
'Jacking-out program activated. All guest navis are being evacuated.' A voice spoke from the speakers. Suddenly, the hologram disappeared, and Megaman appeared on the PET.  
  
'Megaman, are you alright?' Lan asked nervously.  
  
'Yeah, ow, I think so…what just happened?…' The blue bomber asked. He then asked, 'How's Roll?' Lan looked over at Maylu. She looked a tiny bit nervous, but he could tell by her expression that Roll was okay.  
  
'She's fine.' Lan answered. 'But I think Glyde knows something we don't. He's on the main system with another navi. I'll jack you in.' Lan pressed a switch above the jack-in port. The connected network changed, and Megaman went in. Inside, he could see Glyde and another navi talking. The rest were seated around them. Megman went and sat next to Roll.  
  
'Hey, Roll. You alright?' He said, putting his arm around her. She sighed, and leant against him.  
  
'Kinda. I don't feel well. I don't think synchronization agrees with me.' She smiled sheepishly. Megaman kissed her on the forehead.  
  
'It's okay. You'll always agree with me.' Megaman smiled. Roll smiled back. 'Come on, let's see what the others are saying.' They walked over and sat closer to the conversation, so that they could actually hear it.  
  
'Listen, whatever happened in there wasn't my fault! You can't blame me!' Shouted a navi dressed in a cloak. 'It wasn't my fault!'  
  
'I saw something in the painting! I swear I did! It was a glitch or something!' Glyde shouted back, his grace forgotten. 'Listen, mister, who are you?'  
  
'My name's Elixir.EXE, but that-' Elixir stood stock still for a moment. He was remembering something…  
  
A few minutes ago…  
  
A glitch, he thought. Then he went back to the painting. Little did he know, inside the network, something was drawing power from the gallery…  
  
'Sir, we have a problem!' Jenaine called up from his workstation. Elixir walked over and looked at the screen.  
  
'What's wrong?' He asked.  
  
'Sir, it's the generators. They're diverting power from the NetCity buildings and putting it in the Elixir cannon. Something's not right.' Elixir sighed. He wasn't expecting anything to happen on a day like this.  
  
'Listen, just keep the generators running. We can't afford to lose NetCity at a time like this.'  
  
In NetCity…  
  
Iceman looked up. A light was flashing above him. Then it rippled. Iceman blinked. That's the last time I eat those fries, he thought, before going off to meet the others.  
  
Back in the terminal…  
  
Elixir blinked. He remembered.  
  
'Ah yes, the glitch…I do remember. Something wasn't right back then…yes…it could be possible…yes…I'm certain…' Elixir said to himself. Axl looked at him with an eyebrow raised. Elixir reached into his pocket, pulled out a mobile phone, and tapped in a number. 'Jeraine? Yes, listen, I need you to run a virus check. Yes, right away.' He waited a few seconds.  
  
Jeraine looked at his monitor.  
  
'That can't be right…'  
  
'Yes? Really? But that's…yes, I quite understand. Thank you. Bye.' Elixir pressed a button and put his phone back into his pocket. 'Everyone, yes, I think I understand what's going on.' Megaman stood up.  
  
'And about time too! Come on, spill the beans! What in net is going on?!?!' Megaman shouted. 


	5. Explanations

'When I first thought of NetCity, I knew that I needed a way to destroy NetCity if anything drastic happened. Because all the files were on different computers, I had to install a weapon which would blast all of NetCity into oblivion. It was called the Elixir Cannon. It would destroy the entire data system, making it uninhabitable. Fortunately, NetCity became perfect and the Elixir Cannon fell into disuse. It was still manned, but never used.' Elixir told them.  
  
'Until today.' Megaman added.  
  
'Yes, but today was a mistake. It was never supposed to happen. As far as I can tell, someone fired it manually. I've been able to attain the name of the navi, but it worries me even more.'  
  
'Why?' Roll asked.  
  
'Because, my dear lady, the navi in there is the navi of a very good, but also very deceased, friend and colleague of mine known as Harold. He died about a month ago, after he found that his navi had been stealing from NetBanks. He had an argument with his navi, Glitch.EXE, and he died in a car crash a day later. Horrible stuff. Apparently, Glitch has taken control of the Elixir Cannon and fired it upon NetCity. We cut the city's generators, but I fear that may not be enough.'  
  
'What do you mean?' Protoman asked.  
  
'Glitch has his ways. Currently, he has a connection with an unknown source which gives him unrestricted power. At his current rate, this means he'll gain enough power to fire the cannon again in roughly 4 hours. Our firewalls can't take another blast. If he fires it, the net goes down.' Elixir told them. There was a stunned silence.  
  
'Whoa.' Axl said.  
  
'So what can we do?' Glyde asked.  
  
'Well, there is one thing. The gate into NetCity is still operational, so getting in isn't a problem. Once you're in though, NetCity's climate is unpredictable, so you may feel disoriented. What you must do, however, is dangerous.' Elixir paused for breath. He waved his hand at what had been a wall, but was now a holographic screen. 'This is the Zodiac program. It is a central administration program which is used in dire emergencies, like this one. It works like this:' The screen flickered, and now showed NetCity from above. Highlighted, however, was a circle inside NetCity itself. 'This is the Zodiac machine. It is used to wipe NetCity of everything. Basically, it fires a gigantic erase program into the atmosphere, and everything inside NetCity that has an outward-bound connection-navis and so forth-will be cut off. This is extremely deadly to anything it touches. Anything hit by it will be fatally corrupted. This mission is dangerous, but several of our special operations teams are already inside the city, so help is at hand.' Elixir looked around. 'Any questions?' Axl raised a hand.  
  
'Just two. Why does Glitch want NetCity taken down, and why isn't anyone doing anything to stop him at the moment?' Elixir stared at him. He mouthed some words to himself before answering.  
  
'Question one can be answered later. But the second one I can do now. We can't do anything because there is very little inward-bound connection. It's slower than a telephone cable in there. Roughly 15k. It's fast in there, and it's fast out here, but the space between is slow. We have to use very primitive ways to contact each other. We can't transfer anything bigger than a message, either. But we can get you inside. All we have to do is send you into NetCity as a program. Once we install you, you can move around freely. Don't worry. It'll all be fine.  
  
Author's note: This is all very complicated, I know. Basically, for those who cannot understand plots, imagine jacking in like in The Matrix. They will be reconstructed inside NetCity, but their bodies will still be here. Also, their conscience will be transferred. There. Simplified. Happy now? 


	6. 453! Activate!

The navi looked around. Several of the data spires had collapsed, yet more had yet to even be touched by the virus.  
  
'How much longer, 93?' The navi said to another navi. The one known as 93 looked up.  
  
'The supports are putting up a hell of a resistance, sir.' 93 replied. 'Most of them aren't even on this mainframe. But it'll be done in a few hours, sir.'  
  
'Oh good. How very good indeed.' The navi commented. He looked up. On a screen in front of him, there was movement. 'Ah, I see our good friend Elixir has brought us company. How very courageous. Yet downright stupid. 453! Activate!' He shouted. In a circle of light, a machine appeared. It was vaguely humanoid. '453, recognise targets.' The machine got up, and scanned the screen.  
  
'Target confirmed.'  
  
'Oh, good. 453, locate and engage targets immediately.'  
  
'Order confirmed. Locating targets. Targets located. Plotting shortest route. Route confirmed. Travel mode activate.' The machine unfolded jets from inside itself and took off through a rip in reality.  
  
'Gosh,' The navi said. 'I do hope he has some fun. We haven't let him out for years.' And with that, Glitch.EXE strode back to the data spires.  
  
Author's note: I would like to say thank you to the one person who actually wrote a review of my story. Next time, will everyone not be so lazy. Thank you. Also, I know this chapter is short. But it provides a bit of plot. So there. Be happy. G'day. 


	7. I'll take you to the armoury

'…and so that's all.' Elixir finished. 'I would prefer it if you would start immediately. If you'll follow me, I'll take you to the armoury.' With that, Elixir walked off. The navis looked blankly at each other.  
  
'Did he say-' Axl started.  
  
'Yes, Axl.' Roll replied. 'Yes he did.' Axl stared hungrily at the door which had Elixir walked through. Then, Axl, Megaman, Iceman and Gutsman made a mad rush for the door.  
  
'Huh. Ruffians.' Glyde commented. Once inside, though, the navis stared in astonishment. There were thousands upon thousands of weapons held on the walls, on columns and even in cases. But that wasn't all.  
  
'I've been deleted and gone to heaven!' Axl cried. He then leapt at a colossal gun and started hugging it. Megaman, however, was staring at the biggest blade he had ever seen.  
  
'Whoa…what is that?!?!' He asked.  
  
'It's a light blade. One of a kind. Most weapons here are.' The navis turned at the voice. 'Oh, it's just me.' Elixir stepped out of the shadows. 'So, you like?'  
  
'Oh, yes! Me like! Me likey much much!' Axl shouted. He got the gun and held it up. Suddenly, a holder appeared on his back. 'What on-'  
  
'Oh, that's just a program built into them. Since you probably don't want to tug everything around, they make their own scabbards and suchlike.' Elixir said.  
  
'So,' Megaman said. 'how much can we take?'  
  
'Let me see…' Elixir consulted a small notebook. 'Ah yes. Two swords, one big gun, six pistols and as many knives as can fit in your belt.'  
  
'Belt?' Iceman asked.  
  
'Makes itself. Well, come on. We've got to get cracking. Get your stuff and let's go!' Elixir said.  
  
In the end, Axl took a quadruple shotgun, two death blades, two plasma pistols, a VMagnum, three grenade launchers and as much ammo as he could carry. Megaman took a light blade, a nuke launcher, four cannon pistols, two short swords and ten swoosh blades. Out of curiosity, and much reluctance, Roll picked a hyper sword, two strike blades and two VLaunchers. Iceman couldn't carry much, but he took a grenade launcher and an blizzard sword. Protoman carried 10 swords of different types. Glyde just took a variable-sword. Gutsman, however…  
  
To tell you the full extent of Gutsman's arsenal would take four pages, but all he carried were guns, and big guns at that. Including-  
  
'What the hell is that?!?!?!?' Axl shouted, staring at the biggest gun hefted by Gutsman, and in fact the biggest gun in the room. Elixir looked up.  
  
'Ah, now that is a prototype plasma cannon. It'll not only punch a hole through the target, everything behind the target and around it, the wall behind the target and several walls behind that, but also the space-time continuum. Fortunately, all holes in reality are instantly repaired. Don't fret. Everything will be alright.' 


	8. Author's note 1

Hi, my name is LordAlmighty and I am the author of Megaman Battle Network: NetCity Adventures. During a quick read-through, I have discovered mistakes. I am dearly sorry about them. Here, I will point them out. Key: P Plot Hole; G Grammar mistake; S Spelling mistake; C To be revealed in further chapters:-  
  
Chapter 1:  
  
P Lan speaks of the NetCity trials. These were, basically, tryouts of the city. Before the entire mainframe was smashed by Glitch.  
  
G A sentence reads "There is logical way in,". This is supposed to say "There is no logical way in."  
  
C Someone motions for Elixir, and a guy called Harold, is to start the "unveiling".  
  
Urm…that's it. Sorry. Anyway, here's a preview to the next chapter:  
  
'Urm…hello?' Harold looked around. Nothing. Even his torch didn't make a dent in the darkness. Something had turned off the power. But what? He thought. He eventually found the fire escape. He ran down it, taking steps three or even four at a time. He got into the parking lot. Harold saw his car, and ran towards it. He got in, turned the key, and a voice went  
  
'Good evening and goodbye, Harold my old chum. Ha!'. Then the car started and shot straight through the wall, and down the five storeys on the other side…  
  
Good, eh? Well, keep watching for the next chapter of:  
  
Megaman Battle Network: NetCity Adventures! 


	9. The origin of 1 Part 1

'-should be ready now. You can get up now, Harold.' Harold looked around. He was in the memory recording room. It was used to make a perfect navi, but after many tests it was found that true power didn't lie in brute force, but in emotions as well. So Elixir thought that it was a good idea to use the emotions from some the workers in the navis by downloading them to the navis. There was one problem, though.  
  
'Is 1 still stable?' Harold asked.  
  
'Yes, it's still stable.' The technician replied. He, Harold remembered. The program had been drafted out of Harold's emotions, but back then he had lost his family in a terrorist attack. When the navi had first been built, it was configured with a huge amount of guilt, anger and vengeance. Guilt at not having been there to help, anger for not helping, and vengeance towards the fledgling company, NetCity, for being the reason for the attack. The guilt in 1 had diminished through time. But anger and vengeance never go, they just build. The reason Harold was in here now was to record new emotions for 1.  
  
'Is Elixir up yet?' Harold said. Yes, Elixir was firm of mind, and was as stable as a rock. Elixir himself oversaw the creation of 2. Elixir, however, was extremely tired of late.  
  
'Not yet sir. He's in his office, apparently sleeping.' Another technician answered.  
  
'DING DONG Will Harold Waterman please come to the conference room.' A voice said over the loudspeaker. Harold walked out of the room, and passed Elixir's office. He looked in. Elixir looked up for a second, then got back to sleeping. Damn, Harold thought, I'm going to have to start the unveiling myself.  
  
'Thank you for being here, ladies and gentlemen.' Harold said. A few minutes ago, Elixir had called him, saying sorry for being so tired. Harold knew the man needed the sleep, he had been working overdrive for the last few months. 'Today, I am here to unveil a new type of navi, one is being produced by SciLab, yes, but we have it here first! A navi who is programmed, not by normal numbers, oh no. But by actual emotions!' An audible gasp ran through the crowd. Harold was flying now. 'Yes, ladies and gentlemen, we have found a way of changing emotions into data and transferring them into the navis themselves! On our website, we are now posting emotion patches for all navis, so that people from around the globe may experience this superb new program! Several of our-' Suddenly the lights went out. 'What on-' The sprinklers went off. The crowd was screaming now, shoving for the exits. 'I assure you, ladies and gentlemen, that this is not part of the presentation! Please make your way quickly towards the exits!' Harold shouted. His phone rang. Harold answered it. 'Yes, what is it now?'  
  
'Hello, Harold.' The voice was menacing, and even that didn't fit the bill. It was angry, certainly, but what about? 'It's me, Harold.' Harold took the phone away from his ear and looked at the screen. There was only one thing on it. The number 1.  
  
'Number…1?' Harold said, quivering.  
  
'Your really are smart! Well, you aren't getting out of here, Harold, you made me. You tried to contain me.' The voice replied.  
  
'You were a danger to you and everyone around you! We had to contain you, otherwise you would have caused massive amounts of damage!'  
  
'You had no right to contain me. You shall pay the price. Good day.' The phone rang dead. Harold stared at the speaker in shock, as if expecting it at any moment to explode. Then numbers appeared. A countdown. 10 minutes. Harold didn't hesitate. He dropped the phone and ran out of the room.  
  
'Urm…hello?' Harold looked around. Nothing. Even his torch didn't make a dent in the darkness. Something had turned off the power. But what? He thought. He eventually found the fire escape. He ran down it, taking steps three or even four at a time. He got into the parking lot. Harold saw his car, and ran towards it. He got in, turned the key, and a voice went 'Good evening and goodbye, Harold my old chum. Ha!'. Then the car started and shot straight through the wall, and down the five storeys on the other side… 


	10. The origin of 1 Part 2

The car fell. Harold pressed the emergency button, and the cockpit of his car ejected and fell safely to earth. The rest of the car, fell, hit the tarmac and exploded in an orgy of fire, fuel, and metal. The cockpit touched the ground without a scratch. In a flash, Harold jumped out, hit the pavement and ran. He didn't stop until he reached his house. He then went straight to the network connecter, and disconnected everything that had an inward-bound connection. Then the phone rang. Harold ran for it, pressed speaker phone, than ran back.  
  
'Hello?' It was Elixir, thought Harold. I'm safe. He picked up the phone.  
  
'It's me, Harold.'  
  
'Harold, are you alright? People said you got a phone call, then ran out. What's wrong?' Elixir asked.  
  
'Listen, I think 1 is loose. He contacted me.' Harold said.  
  
'Harold, come on, 1 is behind-' He stopped. There was a pause, then, 'Oh my. It really is out.'  
  
'He.'  
  
'What?'  
  
'It's a he. That much I know.'  
  
'Harold, we need to get you out of there. We need to get you somewhere safe.' Elixir said.  
  
'But where?' Harold asked. The phone went dead. 'Hello?'  
  
'Hello? Elixir asked. He looked at the phone. Something was not right…  
  
'Hello, Harold.' Harold spun around. There, in front of him, was a hologram of 1. 'Hmm. Nice place.' The navi said, admiring the décor. Harold was frozen to the spot. He then ran outside, got into the nearest taxi, and got out of town. Harold didn't relax until he was a mile out of the border. Then-  
  
'You can't keep running, Harold.' The driver turned round. It was 1. Harold screamed. The taxi smashed out of the lane, and into the oncoming traffic. Even in a steel shell, when you smash into an bus, a lorry, four cars and a bike, you will still impersonate a plastic bag when torn apart, then glued into a rectangle, then hit with a hammer, then pulled and stretched until it impersonates an extremely dead vehicle. 'My, my, now that's gotta hurt.' 1 said. Harold was barely alive. He was delirious. With his last remaining breath, he asked, 'Who are you?' The creature paused, then answered.  
  
'Call me Glitch.' Glitch said. Then the car exploded. 


	11. The origin of 1 Part 3

Elixir walked out. Damn, he thought, this can't be happening! Reports had told him that Harold was dead. A car crash. A taxi. But how? Nothing has access to a taxi except the driver, who wasn't found and a nav- Elixir stopped. He then ran out of his room and straight to the navi containment area.  
  
'I need status on 1.' He said.  
  
'Roger that.' On the screen, 1 appeared. He had an arm blade on his left arm and a cannon built into his right. He was gangly, but menacing. Next to him appeared his health and location.  
  
'Right, he's in data route 456. Get all free navi squads down there now!' Elixir shouted.  
  
'Sir, we don't have enough power! The only one who could defeat him would be another navi of the same tri-chain!' A technician said.  
  
'Right, I know exactly what to do. Power up 2. He's going in.'  
  
Glitch looked over the landscape. He could make it all his…he just had to get rid of everything in his way.  
  
'Hello.' The navi behind him froze. 'You thought you could sneak up on me, eh?' Glitch spun around, with his sword swinging. He hit thin air. 'Where are you, me little fella?' A blow from behind nearly caught him off guard. He spun in the air and parried it. 'Very good! And who might you be?' The navi looked up and said:  
  
'2.' Glitch's smile drained right off his face.  
  
'That's impossible…Geo hasn't been finished yet.' He said, staggering back.  
  
'I know. But I am not Geo.' Glitch stepped back, then ran as he got out of the way of an extensive amount of butchering. 'Not in a fighting spirit now, are you?' Glitch then ran.  
  
He ran. And he ran. And he ran. Glitch knew that this navi was his own flesh and blood. Metaphorically, he added. He also knew that it was suicide to even think about stopping. 2 was him, but more emotionally stable and much better.1 v.2, he thought with a grim smile. He looked behind him. There was a streak of silver heading his way.  
  
'What in the-' It was 2. He speared right through Glitch and tore him in half when he went through the other side. Glitch hit the ground. His data was getting corrupted at an enormously fast rate. He wouldn't be able to survive much longer. He looked at his hand. It looked suspiciously like a chip slot, but then-  
  
'Had enough, Glitchy boy?' 2 grinned malevolently. He raised his sword, and swung down.  
  
'Battlechip alpha! Battlechip in! Download!' Glitch had a chip in one hand and slotted it into the other. Suddenly, a gigantic shield appeared around Glitch. 'Can't get me now!' The sword hit the shield and smashed. 2 looked at it, puzzled. Then he regenerated it and tried again. Still it smashed. Glitch breathed in, then out. 'I'm safe…' He whispered.  
  
'Not for long.' 2 replied. 'Red team! Blue team! Move in!' Suddenly Glitch was surrounded by twenty navis. All of them had their guns pointed at Glitch. Glitch looked round, despairingly.  
  
'Aw, hell.' He said.  
  
'What a coincidence.' 2 replied.  
  
'What d'ya mean?' Glitch asked.  
  
'That's exactly where you're going.' The navis moved around Glitch, placing and securing formatting beams. They were all pointed directly at Glitch's core.  
  
'No, please, no!' Glitch screamed. The beams pulsed, shook, and discharged right into Glitch's core. He screamed as the beams tore apart his shield, ripping it to shreds. He screamed even louder as the beams hit him, diving straight into the core. He then screamed his loudest in hideous pain as the beams ripped apart his core, destroying it, burning him from the inside. Then, he imploded. The screaming stopped.  
  
'That's Glitch dealt with. Well done squad.' 2 said approvingly. The squad cheered. One member, however, looked closely at where Glitch had been.  
  
'Guys? I'm still getting a reading. The beams didn't kill him.' He said. The squad stopped cheering abruptly. 2 spun round.  
  
'Meaning?'  
  
'Glitch isn't dead! He's still alive! He's nowhere near here, he may even be in another net dimension, but he's still alive!'  
  
Deep in the heart of old NetCity…a light shot out of the sky. It hit the ground, and exploded. Buildings and data spires for megabytes around were destroyed. The light flipped, buckled and skidded for ages. Finally, it stopped. Glitch got up. He was at the foot of a data spire.  
  
'I'm not going down…' Glitch whispered, and plunged his arm into the spire, absorbing the data…regenerating… 


	12. Firing range

Axl walked around the edge of the armoury. He spotted a panel which didn't look right and pressed it. Suddenly it slid out, carrying a G4 Megaton Launcher and ammunition. He looked at his back, nodded to himself, and hefted the mighty weapon. Carrying it mightily, he walked off.  
  
'No, Gutsman, this is how you do it. Crouch please.' Elixir said. He walked up to Gutsman, got on his back, grabbed a shell and meddled with the plasma cannon. He wiped some dust off. 'Ah, this isn't a plasma cannon, it's a G9 Megaton launcher.'  
  
'So? What's the difference?' Megaman asked.  
  
'Watch.' Elixir got down and grabbed some more shells. He then got on Gutsman again, pressed a few buttons and slotted a shell into an open hole in the gun. 'The plasma cannon does surprisingly little damage against NetMetal.' He said while twiddling with some buttons. 'However, this gun-' He was cut short when Gutsman rocked back as the shell shot out of the barrel. The shell shot through the firing range, before hitting a tank. Everyone stared at the gun, then at the tank.  
  
'Wha-' Roll started. Then, all hell broke loose. BOOOOOOOOOOOOO… The sound was so deafening that the aural senses just shut down. The tank exploded with the power of a hydrogen bomb made completely out of uranium. The tank was vaporised. When Axl saw again, everything was white.  
  
' ?' Axl said. Axl looked at himself. ' ?!?!?' Elixir was typing something on a keyboard. A screen lit up with SORRY. WRONG SETTING. Elixir got out a container and pressed a button. Everything went normal again.  
  
'Sorry about that. That was the flash bang setting. The setting I meant for would've been bigger.' He said.  
  
'Bigger than that?!?' Axl shouted. A few metres away, Megaman was trying to help Roll up, Gylde was walking dizzily around and Iceman was flat on his face. Iceman, after a few tries, finally got up. He pointed an accusing finger at Elixir.  
  
'You little-' What Elixir was, the others never found out, because at that moment a gigantic robot fell out of the sky and hit him on the head. 


	13. Halloween Special Encounter with Death

Ladies and Gents, this is my Halloween Special, featuring a cameo by the Grim Reaper! Happy Halloween, everyone!

The robot exploded, sending debris everywhere. The explosion destroyed the firing range and carried over into the armoury, wrecking it beyond repair. All the navis were literally scattered. Bar one…

Megaman woke up. Strange, he thought, the explosion should've killed him. He looked around the desolate area. He saw something glinting in the ground, a few metres in front of him. He went over and looked at it.

'Oh, no…' He groaned. He followed the path of corrupted data until he reached the inevitable. He fell to his knees in shock, even though he knew he'd find it. It was a torso. To be more precise, his torso. He tried to grab at it, but his hands went straight through it. He looked up. A creature was standing a few metres away.

Hello, Hub. The words went straight into what might pass as his mind without going through what might also pass as his ears. On the mangled torso at his feet, his face could've passed for his ears. It's been very difficult to get you these past few years, and I nearly got you at birth. You've lived for far too long.

'Who are you?' Megaman asked, backing away slowly. He was also reaching for any weapon he might have. The creature laughed.

I am the harvester of mankind, the reaper man, the reaper navi, you might say. He leaned closer, showing a skull inside his hood. I am Death.EXE. I am the Grim Reaper. With that, he slashed at Megaman with his scythe.

Megaman opened one eye. Death's scythe was imbedded in him, but he couldn't feel anything. He opened the other eye, tried to move, and fell over. He looked up, and a shining vision helped him up.

'What the?' He said, but mainly to himself. The vision in front of him waved at him to follow. Sod this for a game of soldiers, Megaman thought, and ran away. Five steps later, he fell down a hole. 'AAAAAAAAAAAAAAAAAAAAAAAAAAAAAAAAAAAAAAAAAAAAAAAAAAAAAAAAGHHHHHHHHHHHHHHHHHHHHHHHHHHH!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!' Megaman screamed as he fell. He fell for what seemed like hours. When he hit the ground, it was with a good, sodden thump. He got up, and saw the vision standing before him.

Please, it said, Don't try that again. The vision walked towards an archway, and through it. Megaman followed cautiously. Inside there was a DNA, and in the middle was a giant diamond. This is the main power source for NetCity.

Where am I? Megaman asked. He then looked down at his mouth. His ears didn't report anything being said, but his brain had heard something.

You are in the main core room for the Net, the vision said. Whoa, Megaman thought.

Wait, he said, the entire Net?

Yes. Whoa again, thought Megaman.

What am I doing here?

Step into the light, the vision said. Megaman looked at it quizzically. He walked over to the weird structure and looked down. Nothing. Absolute darkness. He looked over his shoulder. The vision was encouraging him to walk into the light. Shrugging and thinking that nothing could be worse than anything that had already happened, then regretting the thought instantly, Megaman walked over the crevice.

Megaman looked below him. Where he stood, energy sparkled off an unseen surface. Then he walked forward and was engulfed by the light.

'Megaman? Megaman, speak to me!' Roll was standing over him. He looked up at her and saw her blinking away a tear. He smiled faintly.

'Any chance of a hot dog?' He said. Roll laughed faintly and kissed him. When she pulled away, she was wiping away her tears. Axl, was standing a few metres away, polishing his weapons.

'We thought you were a dead navi.' Axl said. He was about to offer his congratulations when Glyde silenced him. He stared long and hard at Megaman, as if pondering a hard calculation.

'What is it, Glyde?' Roll asked.

'I sense a great power within Megaman.'

'Oh, we all know-' Axl began.

'I mean a new power. Something huge.' Glyde replied. They all looked at Megaman. Megaman looked down. His torso was tied with a digital bandage. He looked at himself in a mirror that Roll gave him. There was a huge crack along his helmet, held together with rope. He also had a long scar from his nose to his left ear. It was covered with stitches. But that wasn't the worst of it. Just above his core was a large wound that was still bleeding. It had a huge bandage over it, but it still bled data. He looked up at Roll. She was crying again.

'Glyde had to perform a bit of surgery.' She said. Megaman looked over at Glyde.

'Thanks, Glyde.' He said. He looked round. 'Hey, where is everyone?'

'We don't know. They were all scattered by the blast. We only survived because we hit something, most likely.' Glyde answered. Megaman looked at his trusty crew. He could see what he meant. Axl had a big bruise on the side of his head, Glyde had a dent running all along his right side, and Roll had-

'Roll!' Megaman cried in shock. She smiled faintly. There was a gaping wound in her thigh.

'I'll be alright.' She said. Megaman nodded blankly. He looked into the distance. Death.EXE was standing there, holding a lifetimer. He seemed to be smiling slightly.

You survived. He said. You seemed to be favoured by the higher beings. He stopped, and drew out a second scythe. There are many deadly viruses here. This will help you. It will be left with your other weapons, along with instructions on how to use it. Farewell. Then he disappeared into the shadows. Everyone was staring at Megaman.

'You all right?' Axl asked.

'Yeah I'm fine.' Megaman replied.

'Yeah. By the way, we found your weapons literally scattered across the area. We also found this.' Axl handed Megaman a scythe. 'Know what it does?' Megaman looked into the shadows. There, he thought he saw death winking at him before disappearing again.

'I have a pretty good idea.' He said.

Reaper man: The Reaper man is another name for Death in a book by Terry Pratchett, called Reaper Man.  
Lifetimer: Death owns hundreds upon thousands of hourglasses that show how long each and every being in the universe has until they die. Including the Gods. These are called lifetimers. 


	14. Travel to NetCity

The group hobbled along. Axl kept on tripping over his own feet, Glyde was supporting Roll and Megaman seemed on the point of collapse. Yet they kept going. For yonks, they travelled until finally, they hit a dead end. In a manner of speaking.

'You have got to kidding.' Axl said. A large, nay, colossal crevasse lay in front of them. No way across. Glyde checked something on his computer. A few seconds later he stared in shock, then looked up at the crevasse, then back at his computer, as if checking for confirmation.

'My God.' He said.

'What is it?' Roll asked. Glyde waved vaguely towards the crevasse.

'This crevasse is the firewall around NetCity.' Roll put her hand to her mouth in shock. Axl looked disbelieving.

'A robot did this?!' He said incredulously.

'No,' Said Glyde. 'Something else did this. Something big.' As one, they looked up. The sky had become a dark orange, with a few transparent orange clouds in the sky. Apparently hanging there was the Elixir cannon. A beam connected to something in a hole which led underground. Every few seconds, a pulse travelled down from the cannon, making the ground shake slightly. Glyde typed up something on his computer.

'Uh huh.' He said.

'What now?' Megaman asked.

'There's the exit.' He pointed to the cannon.

'Exit?' Roll repeated.

'In that cannon is the only way out of here.' Glyde said. Silence.

'Bugger.' Said Axl.

'Yah.' Glyde answered. Megaman thought for a second.

'Hold on, I think I know a way around.' He said.

'A way AROUND?!' Axl exclaimed. 'It's a bloody crevasse! If it was any deeper it would qualify as the new Grand Canyon! How can you 'get around it'?!'

'Oh, cut him some slack!' Roll said, then winced at the pain in her leg. She continued, 'He's been through the worst!'

'I agree. Let's hear him out.' Glyde said.

Megaman walked forwards a few steps, then pointed his buster at a point a few metres in front of him. He charged it up and fired. Where he fired immediately appeared a data stream. After hesitating, he stepped into it and was instantly compressed and sent into the ground. Roll looked at the others, then walked after Megaman. So did Glyde and Axl.

'Weren't we just here?' Axl said. Megaman looked around. He had to admit that to the naked eye this area seemed no different from the one above them, bar the one above them didn't have a few thousand metre high roof. The landscape around them was a hive of fire and destruction. Many other data streams had either been sucked dry or smashed. Unfortunately, there wasn't a working one for miles.

'I saw this place in my dream. It was full of data streams…this shouldn't be happening…' Megaman said.

'Well, it is.' Axl replied. 'Now let's go.' Suddenly and without warning, a missile flew over their heads and hit a data stream next to them., making data erupt like a mushroom cloud.

'Heads down!' Megaman shouted as data fell around them.

'We have to go back!' Glyde shouted over the explosions.

'We can't! This is the only way out!' Megaman shouted back. Axl looked around, scared out of his wits.

'Screw this!' He said, and rushed back into the data stream. Glyde looked back at the data stream, then at Megaman and Roll, made up his mind and ran into the data stream. Finally, it was just Megaman and Roll.

'Don't go…please!' He said. Roll looked saddened beyond belief.

'Mega, I'm so sorry.' She said. She then turned around and went to the stream. At the last moment, she turned around and looked at Megaman. 'I'm so sorry.' She said. Before she could move, she was shot by a missile.

'No!' Megaman screamed. Roll vanished into the data stream, just as it exploded. He stared after her. 'No…' He turned around. A couple of heavily armed navis were making their way quickly towards him. Megaman gripped his gun. He opened up the mini-computer and input a code. The gun then changed into a Blaze Launcher. I don't remember this, he thought. Too late, he thought again. He fired. He regained vision a few seconds later, and even then all he got was an intensely bright light. Three seconds later, the light died down and he saw the damage. A crater the size of a small house had appeared where he targeted. His internal computer made a few changes to help Megaman see better when he fired. Then he made his way towards the beam.

'Jesus H. Christ.' Megaman was freaked. This shouldn't be possible. But it was. By jiminy, it was. There was a firewall between him and the core. Megaman stared, then took off his helmet and threw it at the floor in frustration. 'Shit! Come on!' Then he looked to his left. Something had caught his eye. A data stream. A working one. Megaman ran straight into it. Pity. He really wouldn't like what he'd find on the other end. 


	15. Upgrade

Megaman stepped out of the data stream, which closed up behind him. On the other side, he found a world of without life or soul. It was a world of rubble. The sky had turned dark red. Digital readouts in the sky showed successful nuclear missile launches to several major metropolitan areas, including Tokyo, New York, Hong Kong Central and London. A bright light was firing at parts of at the world. With each successive impact, there was an ever-increasing earthquake. Starships were taking off for the heavens. Other starships were firing on them. A dark, silhouetted creature was hovering in the sky. Megaman walked, seemingly without purpose, towards a wooden sign that was the only thing standing. He walked towards it and read it. Beneath it was a digital timer. After reading it, he fell to his knees in shock.

Welcome, traveller. Look around and remember this sight. It shall be your world in

0:0:1:13:50:10

Then there was a bright flash, then darkness.

Megaman woke up in a large temple-like room. Statues were erected around him. He walked forwards, despite being amazed by the world around him. Oddly enough, this was nothing compared to the next room. A long bridge surrounded by darkness but illuminated by footlights. It didn't go the entire way across, but to the middle of the room. Which held a data-steam. Megaman cautiously crossed the bridge, holding his new blaze launcher out in front of him. At the data-steam, Megaman took a tentative step into it. When nothing happened, he stepped fully into it. Suddenly, and without warning, the entire room lit up. Statues were bending over forwards, giant lasers mounted on their backs. The bridge sank into the gloom beneath. A voice in some unintelligible language rang out. A few seconds later, Megaman heard an orderly, but soft, female voice in his head.

'Preparing upgrade: 1.0 to 2.0. Subject: Megaman.exe.' The world erupted. The lasers fired into the data-stream, causing it to glow. Megaman felt an unimaginable amount of energy enter him. He knew that he wouldn't last much longer. He rose up into the air, energy pounding into him. He screamed. Just as consciousness left him, he heard a voice ring out.

'MEGAMAN!'

Author's note: The digital timeout is in Y:MO:D:H:MI:S.


End file.
